


Beautiful Deathtrap

by SymphonyWizard



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:19:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10127435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymphonyWizard/pseuds/SymphonyWizard
Summary: Sequel to "Getting Closure."  After Lana gets rejected by Clark, she goes to the Luthor Mansion.  Again, things don't go as she would have hoped.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Fallen_Sky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Fallen_Sky/gifts).



At the impact of the cue ball, Lex watched as the billiard balls were sent scattering across the table. He allowed a small smile to spread across his lips as three balls--two solids and a stripe--made it into the holes. He has played this so many times, yet it's the first move that is always a lucky call. Lex didn't believe in luck nor coincidence, but some things, he had to admit, were left to chance.

Twice in his life now, he had been rescued from the brink of death and both times it had been from the water. The first time, he met and quickly befriended this naive Kansas farmboy. Sometimes he found himself looking back and wondered how he stayed friends with Clark Kent for as long as he did. Other times, a small part of him wished that they had stayed friends. But how could anyone stay friends with someone who couldn't even be completely honest with him? Clark Kent was a walking mystery and sometimes Lex wondered if the secrets he kept were worth staying secret.

As he continued to skillfully send billiard balls into the holes, alternating between solids and stripes, he felt a presence behind him. He turned around and almost lost his composure.

"Lana." After seeing her in Shanghai, having a gun pointed at him, he had not expected to be seeing her. He told her that she could return to Smallville and promised that he wouldn't bother her, but still he still wondered if she would actually return. Much less show up in his house.

"I did not expect to see you around here," he said, offering a small smile.

"Believe me, I wasn't planning on it," said Lana coldly, though her eyes gave away her emotions.

Lex exhaled as he set down the cue stick and walked over to his desk to open a bottle of water. "You've already been to the Kent's, haven't you?"

"Chloe is living there now," said Lana, whose voice mingled with disgust and disbelief.

"I wish I could say I was completely surprised," Lex smirked. He knew that Chloe harbored a deep unrequited love for Clark for as long as he had known them both, but he never thought that Clark would pull his head out of his ass and see what Chloe had to offer. He studied Lana for several minutes. "Oh Lana, you really thought that you could show up at Clark's house and he would just embrace you and welcome you back into his life?"

Lana said nothing.

"I've only been out of prison for a short while, but I have seen the way Clark looks at Chloe," Lex knew what he was doing to Lana right now, but she had hurt him enough. "Maybe I saw it blossoming even before our wedding and dismissed it, but the way he looks at her...he looks like a man who had found his other half."

"Clark loves me," Lana whispered defiantly.

"Really?" scoffed Lex. "Then why are you here? Why is it that the Kent Farm is not where I would have found you?" He knew the answer, or at least part of the answer, but he was enjoying himself.

"Lana, you were his childhood crush," he continued. "I spent so much time trying to get him take his chance with you and when he finally did, he blew it." Lex felt like he was just voicing his own theories now. "Perhaps it was never meant to be. Clark never looked at you the way I have seen him looking at Chloe. The way he looked at you...he was just a school boy who had finally gotten a chance with the girl he spent too much time pining after. The way I've seen Clark and Chloe looking at each other...I would go to the ninth circle of Hell and back if it meant finding love as powerful as theirs. I daresay that you could put the Navy Seals between them and it wouldn't be enough to rip them apart. It would seem that you have wasted your time coming back to Smallville."

"Clark was Chloe's crush; Clark will get over--"

"You're wasting your breath, Lana," Lex voice was raising. He shook his head, incredulous. "Wake up, Lana. The fact that you are here so soon means that Clark did not welcome with open arms. He did not welcome you back into his life. You hurt him by not telling him of your death-scheme. And I can't say I blame him." Lex laughed. "It's ironic."

Lana blinked several times.

"Whitney, Adam, Jason Teague and every meteor freak in between...you leave a trail of death in the wake of your beauty." Lana slapped him across the face. Even as the pain flared up in his cheek, Lex refused to back down. He laughed again. "Clark and I may have had a huge falling out, but there is one thing that share in common--we survived you."

Lana's shoulders rose and fell as she breathed. Finally she said, "You promised you'd take care of everything. That I could come back to Smallville."

Lex welcomed the change of subject. "Well, with a little persuasion, the, uh...the DA has agreed to not press charges." Lana straightened up a little. "The evidence has been destroyed, and the felon my father bribed to confess to the crime, died in prison of natural causes. You-you're a free woman." He gave her a moment for the information to sink in. He opted to offer a little sentiment as he set the half-finished bottle of water down on the desk.

"I don't suppose I can ask you...to somehow see that every horrible thing I did," he swallowed hard, feeling emotion threaten to build up, "was because I truly did love you."

"No," replied Lana, her voice dripping icicles. "You can't ask that." She turned away from him and made to leave.

"Of course," Lex said curtly. "My lawyer is drawing up the settlement agreement."

Lana stopped and turned around halfway. "I don't want your money," she snapped.

Lex smirked. "Should I assume that excludes the ten million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?" How could she say that when she steals that much from him? It's kind of hypocritical, if not disgustingly pathetic.

It was very brief, but he saw her falter a little and he took enjoyment out of it. "I was trying to escape," she explained.

"I'm not admonishing you, I'm applauding you," and he meant it. "It's not everyday someone is able to manage a coup like that." A thought crossed his mind. "I doubt Clark would have seen it that way if he'd welcomed you back into his life."

Lana said nothing and turned to leave again.

"I understand he has a cousin visiting," Lex said, not caring if she was listening or not. "I look forward to meeting her." He didn't believe in coincidences and around the same time that his life was saved, a mysterious cousin of Clark's appears in town. "Oh and one more thing, Lana..." Lana stops just as she reaches the door. "If you so much as try and rip Clark and Chloe apart, I will make you wish you never returned to Smallville." Where was this kinship for Clark coming from? Was it not just because he wanted to see Lana suffer? Either way, Lana left without another word, leaving Lex alone in his study.

In the quiet of the room, a small, but agonizing laugh escaped Lex's lips. Before the wedding, he invited Clark to come see what he had lost. He never thought that Clark would bounce back happier than he had ever seen him with Chloe. Hell, he has seen Clark standing up straighter than usual. Looks like Clark is the one with the last laugh.

Or maybe not.

Lex was half-expecting Clark to dump everything and welcome Lana back into his life, but he didn't. As an almost thankful result, he got to see Lana suffer. Lex thought somewhat longingly that there was a time when he and Clark would have celebrated their shared victory over pool and pizza and maybe even a Sharks game...after arguing about the differences in motives. Though it seems, even when they aren't friends anymore, they still share a final laugh.

"Best of luck in your life, Lana Luthor," Lex toasted.


End file.
